One More Step for a Slicker Slide

[Mamaposaune]

This is in response to the recent threads on Yamaha slide lube here, and the member who was having issues with his new King slide, posted under "Instruments."

And inspired by my husband who, knowing how obsessive I am with slide maintenance, recently handed me two of his slides that he has not been happy with, he was ready to take them to a tech for repair. His complaint - he cleans and lubes them before playing, they are OK for a very short time but then quickly go downhill. They feel dry and rough along the entire length. Neither of us could find signs of mis-alignment or dents.

(Note - he will let his horns sit for up to several weeks "wet" in the case, cleaning and lubing them right before playing.)

Anyhow, I cleaned the first one (a Conn 79H) several weeks ago, and the 2nd one (Selmer Bolero) this morning. He has played the 79H since, and the slide is MUCH better - going from a 7 to a 9 1/2-10 even after several hours of play.. I think the Bolero is going to be the same.

What I did: First I polished the inside of the outers with a cleaner I found at Dollar Tree (pictured below) I think it worked as well as Wrights, and was even a little easier to rinse out. I'm not necessarily recommending it over Wrights, just saying I think it is a good alternative. Got LOTS of black tarnish/corrosion out. I rinsed thoroughly with water, and finished up with isopropyl alcohol on a cleaning rod to remove as much residue as possible.
I normally stop here, then lube and play.

* Next, on a hunch, I swabbed the outer with the cleaning rod, but this time used Trombotine on the rag. Lots of it - on 4-5 rags, as it turned out. I probably used a teaspoon of trombotine in total, rubbing it into the tip until it felt saturated, but no gobs that would get pushed into the crook. Then I polished with dry rags - another 4-5 - until no more black gunk came out.The rags pictured below are from the start of the dry polish. 

I also rubbed trombotine into the inner with a rag, more than I would normally use, and then wiped it all off. 

So, the slide was dry, but had Trombotine rubbed into the pores of the metal. Hubby used the Yamaha snot on the 79H, which held up well for his rehearsals and performance. I think he would have had the same results with Trombotine.

The process almost felt more like seasoning a pan, LOL, filling the pores of the metal with lube while cleaning the remainder of the polish and tarnish off the raw brass outers

[ssking2b]

Sounds like you did a great job. BUT, you need to get him to stop putting the slides away wet. That enhances corrosion setting in to the tubes. Corrosion happens anyway, but way, way less if the tubes are cleaned when you put them away. I clean up after each day’s playing and when I have multiple sessions in one day I wipe off the inner tubes, and rag out the outer tubes. Then Re-lube before each playing session. I don’t expect to get more than 4 hours of great slide action out of a lube job. I’ve been a full time professional trombonist for more than 50 years, and learned long ago if I don’t take proper care of my tools, they don’t work well, or last long.